Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3
Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world's hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine 3. Here's everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike!\ Your authors aren't just the world's #1 Unreal game development trainers: They've even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3:...
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Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3 is your start-to-finish guide to modding and level design with the world’s hottest new gaming engine: Unreal Engine 3. Here’s everything you need to know to jumpstart your skills and create stunning new content and games for consoles and PCs alike! Your authors aren’t just the world’s #1 Unreal game development trainers: They’ve even built the training modules that shipped with Unreal Tournament 3: Limited Collector’s Edition. Now, working with the full cooperation of Unreal Engine 3’s creators, Epic Games, they introduce every facet of game development—from simple level creation to materials, lighting, and terrain...even advanced level optimization and streaming!Packed with tips, hands-on tutorials, and expert techniques, Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I is all you need to create levels that look spectacular and work brilliantly...levels that gamers just can’t stop playing!You’ll find expert tips onUnderstanding the game development process from start to finish Planning projects for greater efficiency, faster delivery, and better quality Crafting worlds with stunning beauty and clarity Bringing amazing realism to characters, objects, and props Making the most of Unreal Engine 3’s massively upgraded lighting system Scripting complex gameplay quickly and easily with Unreal Kismet Building animated game assets with Unreal Matinee Testing game performance during live gameplay Optimizing levels by improving the interaction between lights and surfaces Using advanced level streaming to create vast, rich, highly playable levelsWinner of the Front Line Award for best game development book of 2009!
CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Unreal Technology . . . 1History of Unreal . . . 2June 1998: Unreal . . . 2November 1999: Unreal Tournament . . . 3March—July 2001: The Unreal Developer Network . . . 5September 2002: Unreal Championship and Unreal Tournament 2003. . . 5February 2003: Unreal II . . . 7March 2004: Unreal Tournament 2004 . . . 9April 2005: Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict . . . 10November 2006: Gears of War. . . 11November 2007: Unreal Tournament 3 . . . 12Overview of the Unreal Engine. . . 14Unreal Engine Components . . . 14The Graphics Engine. . . 14The Sound Engine. . . 15The Physics Engine . . . 16The Input Manager . . . 16Network Infrastructure . . . 17The UnrealScript Interpreter. . . 18Overview of Component Interaction . . . 18Engine Components at Work . . . 20Creating Your Own Worlds with the Unreal Engine . . . 21Game Assets . . . 21Animations and Skeletal Meshes . . . 25The Tools of the Trade . . . 26CHAPTER 2: Overview of Game Development. . . 31The Importance of Iteration . . . 32Start with the Idea . . . 32Story Treatment . . . 34Considerations for Production Scheduling . . . 39Communication . . . 41Have Regular Meetings . . . 41Make Yourself Heard. . . . 41Respect Your Teammates . . . 41Artists Versus Programmers: Round One, Fight! . . . 42Pick Your Battles . . . 42Stay Creative . . . 42Testing and Feedback . . . 43Ending Production . . . 44CHAPTER 3: Up and Running: A Hands-On Level Creation Primer. . . 45Starting Your First Level . . . 46CHAPTER 4: A Universe of Brushes: World Geometry In-Depth . . . 117Key Terms and Concepts: BSP and CSG . . . 117Brush Types . . . 118The Red Builder Brush. . . 118Additive Brushes . . . 118Subtractive Brushes . . . 120A Quick Word on Building. . . 120Cleaning BSP Materials . . . 21Working with Brushes . . . 124Additive and Subtractive Levels. . . 124The Almighty Drag Grid . . . 124Moving with Pivots . . . 125Brush Order . . . 125Building to the Proper Scale . . . 126Primitives . . . 127Cube . . . 127Cone . . . 128Cylinder . . . 128Sheet . . . 130Tetrahedron (Sphere) . . . 130Curved Staircase . . . 130Linear Staircase . . . 132Spiral Staircase . . . 132Volumetric . . . 133Boolean Operations . . . 134Intersect Tool. . . 134De-Intersect Tool . . . 135Brush Solidity. . . 135Solid . . . 136Semi-Solid. . . 136Non-Solid . . . 136Brush Manipulation . . . 137Geometry Mode . . . 137Selection Modes . . . 138Toggle Modifier Window . . . 141Working with Shadows. . . 164CHAPTER 5: Static Meshes. . . 169The Importance of Static Meshes. . . 169Static Mesh Workflow Overview . . . 170UV Texture Coordinates . . . 185Considerations When Creating UV Layouts . . . 193Creating Textures . . . 195Importing Static Meshes. . . 197Using the Static Mesh Editor . . . 200Collisions . . . 202Creating Custom Collisions. . . 205Placing Static Meshes. . . 213Static Meshes and Shadows. . . 216CHAPTER 6: Introduction to Materials. . . 221What Is a Material? . . . 222Materials vs. Textures. . . . . 223Texture Coordinates (UVs). . . . 223Material Instructions. . . 224Thinking About Color in Unreal. . . 225A Quick Word on Lighting. . . 226Anatomy of a Material . . . 226Material Nodes . . . 227Material Channels . . . 232Material Expressions. . . 239The Available Material Expressions. . . 244Material Expressions List. . . 244Parameter Expressions. . . 262Material Creation. . . 264Surface Properties . . . 274The Surface Properties Dialog. . . 275CHAPTER 7: Introduction to Lighting . . . 357Light Placement. . . . 358A Word on Building Lights. . . 358Lighting Concepts . . . 375Light Maps and Shadow Maps. . . 375Static and Dynamic Lighting . . . 376Per-Vertex Lighting and Lighting Subdivisions. . . 377Types of Lights. . . 378Toggleable Lights. . . 378Moveable Lights . . . 378Point Lights. . . 379Spotlights . . . 380Directional Lights. . . . 382SkyLights. . . 382Pickup Lights. . . 384Light Properties . . . 387General Properties. . . 387Exclusive SpotLight Properties. . . 389Exclusive DirectionalLight Properties. . . 389Exclusive SkyLight Properties . . . 389Lighting Channels . . . 390Lighting Volumes . . . 394Shadows . . . . . 394Precomputed Shadows (Shadow Maps). . . . 395Shadow Buffer Shadows . . . 396Shadow Volume Shadows . . . 396Shadow Modulation . . . 398Light Environments . . . 405Light Functions . . . 410Workflow Tips . . . 415CHAPTER 8: Terrain. . . 417What Is Terrain? . . . 417Accessing Terrain . . . 419Terrain Anatomy and Properties . . . 427Terrain Anatomy (Terminology) . . . 427Terrain Properties . . . 428TerrainMaterials and Layers . . . 433TerrainMaterial Properties. . . 433Terrain Layers . . . 434Terrain Editor Dialog. . . 449The Terrain Editing Dialog Interface Overview. . . 449Terrain Editing Tools. . . 459Decorating Your Terrain: Foliage and DecoLayers. . . 483Foliage. . . 484DecoLayers. . . 488Terrain Workflow Considerations . . . 494CHAPTER 9: Introduction to Unreal Kismet . . . 497Kismet: The Big Picture. . . 497Accessing Kismet . . . 498Anatomy of a Sequence Object . . . 506Types of Sequence Objects . . . 508Events . . . 508Actions . . . 509Variables . . . 509Conditions . . . 510Matinee . . . 512Kismet Sequence Flow . . . 512Simple Kismet Sequences . . . 526Commenting Kismet Sequences . . . 535Intermediate Kismet Sequences . . . 536CHAPTER 10: Unreal Matinee. . . 615What Is Matinee? . . . 615Matinee Terminology . . . 616Accessing Matinee . . . 636The Matinee Sequence Object . . . 636Inputs . . . 637Outputs. . . . 638Variable Links . . . 638Properties . . . 638Matinee Data Object. . . 640InterpActors . . . 641Mover Kismet Event . . . 641The Matinee Editor . . . 643Toolbar . . . 644Curve Editor . . . 644Group/Track List . . . 644Timeline . . . 645Properties . . . 646Types of Tracks. . . 647Anim Control . . . 647Color Property . . . 648Event . . . 648FaceFX . . . 648Float Material Param. . . 648Float Particle Param. . . 649Float Property . . . 649Morph Weight. . . 649Movement. . . 649SkelControl Scale . . . 650Sound . . . 650Effects Toggle . . . 651Vector Material Param. . . . 651Vector Property . . . 651Director Group-Specific Tracks . . . 651Matinee Considerations . . . 652CHAPTER 11: Level Optimization . . . 705General Optimization. . . 705Understanding Overhead . . . 706In-Game Performance Diagnostics . . . 706Occlusion . . . 717CullDistance and CullDistanceVolumes . . . 718Levels of Detail . . . 719Optimizing Lights and Shadows . . . 719Light Maps . . . 719Light Environments. . . 720Light Functions . . . 720Casting Light onto Unlit Materials . . . 720The Primitive Stats Browser. . . 721Dynamic Shadows and the Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser . . . 722Material Optimization . . . 725Multiple Materials per Object . . . 726Material Instructions. . . 726Unlit Translucency . . . 727CHAPTER 12: Level Streaming. . . 731Level Streaming Benefits. . . 732Testing Level Streaming . . . 733Streaming Methods . . . 733Persistent Levels Versus Streaming Levels . . . 733The Level Browser and Scene Manager . . . 734Map Changing . . . 736Level Streaming via Kismet. . . 757Level Streaming via LevelStreamingVolumes. . . 758Level Streaming via Distance. . . 767Troubleshooting . . . 777Level Streaming Considerations . . . 777APPENDIX A: The Unreal Editor User’s Guide. . . 779The Main Menubar . . . 779The Toolbar . . . 781File Options . . . 781Undo and Redo . . . 782Far Clipping Plane Distance . . . 782Transform Tools . . . 782Search for Actor . . . 783Toggle Fullscreen . . . 783Cut, Copy, and Paste . . . 783Generic Browser . . . 783Kismet . . . 783Toggle Brush Polys . . . 783Toggle Prefab Lock . . . 783Use Curves Button . . . 783Enable/Disable Socket Snapping. . . 783Building . . . 784Play Level Area . . . 784The Toolbox . . . 785Camera and Utilities Area . . . 785Brush Primitives Area . . . 786CSG Operations Area . . . 792Additional Brushes Area . . . 793Selections Area . . . 794The Viewports . . . 795Navigation . . . 796Viewport Controls. . . 797Viewport Toolbar . . . 798Viewport Context Menu. . . 802The Console Bar . . . 804Command Line . . . 805Selection Status . . . 805Transform Status . . . 805DrawScale Numeric Fields . . . 805Drag Grid . . . 805Rotation Grid . . . 805Scale Grid . . . 806AutoSave . . . 806Browsers . . . 806Generic Browser. . . 806Actor Classes Browser. . . 811Groups Browser . . . 813Level Browser . . . 815Referenced Assets Browser . . . 816Primitive Stats Browser . . . 818Dynamic Shadow Stats Browser. . . 819Scene Manager . . . 820Log . . . 822Editors . . . 823Static Mesh Editor. . . 823Material Editor. . . 824Kismet Visual Scripting Editor. . . 824Matinee Editor . . . 826PhAT (Physics Asset Tool) Physics Editor. . . 826Cascade Particle System Editor . . . 826User Interface Scene Editor . . . 828SoundCue Editor . . . 828Post Process Manager . . . 828AnimSet Editor . . . 830AnimTree Editor. . . 830Search for Actors . . . 831Property Windows . . . 832Actor Properties . . . 832Surface Properties . . . 833APPENDIX B: The Curve Editor. . . 835Animation Curves . . . 836Controlling Interpolation Curves . . . 838Auto . . . 839User . . . 840Break. . . . 840Linear. . . 840Constant . . . 842Curve Editor Interface. . . 842Curve Editor Toolbar. . . 842Curve Editor Curve Key List. . . 844Curve Editor Graph View . . . 846Preset Curves . . . 847Available Preset Curve Settings. . . 848Index. . . 851
